Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular // Review
In October of 1941, All-Star Comics #8 introduced one of the first female superheroes. Eight decades later, DC Comics celebrates the legend of this hero with Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular. The thick anthology features 9 different stories celebrating one of the most enduring characters in pop literature. Stories featured include a piece by Wonder Woman’s current writing team of Michael W. Conrad and Becky Cloonan and a tale of Young Diana by Jordie Bellaire.
Steve Trevor mourns the apparent loss of Diana in a documentary he’s showing Etta after a party. Elsewhen, Young Diana meets Nubia...a solemn warrior guarding Doom’s Doorway deep beneath Themyscira. A different Etta from a different era shows up to help Wonder Woman out of a magnetic predicament somewhere in the Golden Age. In the Silver Age, her wisdom is a resource. Later on, in the ’60s, find Lois setting Clark up on a date with a hip woman named Diana, who runs a boutique.
Conrad and Cloonan’s “In Memoriam” serves dual purposes of celebrating Wonder Woman and setting up for the next issue of the main title as Steve Trevor copes with her apparent loss in DC’s Death Metal crossover. Bellaire provides an appealing potential lead in a new direction with Young Diana in her meeting with Nubia. There’s a rich diversity of different narrative styles in the rest of the issue. Following up on impressive work for Wonder Woman Black and Gold, Amy Reeder celebrates the Golden Age in a story with the often-overlooked Holliday College Girls. Writer Mark Waid moves the issue forward between the panels of the Silver Age as her goddess-granted wisdom is sought out by every member of the Justice League in “Dear Diana.” Tom King’s “Dated” cleverly plays between-the-issues with the mutual trajectories of Diana Prince and Clark Kent.
Jim Cheung manages to maintain the subtle mystery of Wonder Woman while celebrating her in the opening story. Nubia is beautiful as artist Paulina Ganucheau introduces her to the world of Young Diana in the second story of the issue. Reeder’s rendering of the Golden Age is once again a whimsically breathtaking contemporary adaptation of the style brought to the page in the 1940s by Wonder Woman co-creator H.G. Peter. Later on, Marcio Takara revives the New 52-era Wonder Woman with genuinely gorgeous art in “Immortal Mysteries.” Meghan Hetrick wraps up the celebration in clean, futuristic lines aided by colorist Marissa Louise in “Low Orbit”: an inspiring story of Wonder Woman in the year 2109.
The composition of the 100-page celebration has been carefully thought out. The first two stories establish new directions for ongoing titles. At the same time, the rest of the book moves through Wonder Woman’s history in chronological order from the Golden Age to the Silver Age to the Copper Age and beyond. Not every story is totally brilliant, but the anthology works remarkably well as a whole, giving the reader a somewhat breathtaking look at the history of one of comics’ greatest heroes.
